NOTES AND QUERIES. 237 



never noticed the animal. Half a century ago it was common in 

 most of the cloughs and valleys of that corner of the Pennines where 

 the four counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire 

 meet. There is an established tradition in Longdendale that formerly 

 the woods were so dense that a Squirrel could pass from tree to tree 

 between Staleybridge and Glossop ; but this is a commonplace super- 

 stition that is applied to many other places which have been stripped 

 of trees. In Longdendale it is also believed that the making of the 

 Woodhead series of reservoirs drove the animal out of the district. 

 It is not uncommon in the Goyt Valley, between Cheshire and 

 Derbyshire, and abundant near Grindleford, which is in the latter 

 county nearer Sheffield. Five years ago I saw a single individual in 

 Bottoms Hall Wood, near Mottram, but this may have been an 

 escaped specimen. Destruction of woodlands as the cause of the 

 decrease of the Squirrel might be studied with greater caution, for 

 reliable observers have described to me that fifty years ago it was 

 well-known as an inhabitant of the scantily-clothed valleys of south- 

 west Yorkshire, and could there be seen running along the stone 

 walls. In other counties in Wales and England I have myself 

 observed it far from any wood that could be termed dense. — F. J. 

 Stubbs (Theydon Bois). 



A VES. 



Leisurely Nest-building by a Robin. — We all know how very 

 quickly birds can put up a nest when they are in a hurry ; but this 

 season I met with an instance of the opposite kind. Observing a 

 Bobin carrying building stuff to the upper part of an ivied wall on 

 March 8th, I examined the spot, and found two or three handfuls of 

 material. The bird was seen building once or twice during the rest 

 of the month, but when I went up (I had to use a ladder), the nest 

 was far from finished. On April 12th it appeared at last to be 

 finished, but was empty, and when I next went up on the 18th, it 

 contained five eggs. — O. V. Aplin. 



Blackcap wintering in Oxfordshire. — I saw a male Sylvia atri- 

 capilla in my garden on February 28th. It sang a little, but only 

 got out one good high note. I noticed it at intervals until March 

 13th, when it sang well with some good high notes at the end of the 

 strain, but not afterwards. It may have gone away, or been killed 

 by a cat. Quite possibly it wintered in the garden, and remained 

 unnoticed until it began to sing. During the time I had it under 

 observation I found it difficult to see, as it generally sang from inside 



